Sunday, 25 April 2010

Our furry companions love food (who doesn't?) and it always makes me happy to see how much they enjoy eating their way through mountains of hay, fruit, vegetables and other stuff. Dumbledore is especially fond of bananas. As bananas are strictly speaking no rabbit food, he only gets a bit as a treat now and then. He munches on that sticky sweet stuff with his mouth open and enjoys it immensely. I asked Sebastian to take photos of this so you can enjoy it, too. It's really really cute and you can even see his tongue!! Come on, who of you has ever seen a rabbit-tongue? Exactly.(Don't mind the watery eye on one photo, he sometimes has issues with that but we're on it.)

Monday, 19 April 2010

Well hello, it's been a while. Sebastian has 2 weeks off from work and we have been driving around a lot, went on hikes and yesterday we rode our mountainbikes for the first time this year. It was a very pretty tour with a lot of rocks, mud and sand to race through (in my case: to get stuck in). I have to say, half of the track would have been enough, as we're just getting started again after a long winter. My buttocks are so sore, I am actually thinking about writing this post in a standing position. While puffing up the hills, I realised that I didn't get any fitter during a winter of sitting on the sofa eating chocolate. That came as a real shock =)

Before I move over to knitting related news, I am proud to say that I passed another exam. Not with top grades, but I passed. It was an oral examination and the worst I ever had. The examiners were mean and grumpy (it was a friday afternoon, I think that had something to do with it) and it took only 10 minutes for me to enter full panic mode. As always when in panic in an oral exam, my mind went completely blank. A good examiner recognises this and tries to calm you down and changes the questions. Those two just raised their eyebrows and said "You don't know that??" All in all, I didn't think I did that bad, the first part went fairly well and the second part of the exam was not top notch but I could have done worse. When I left the room for 5 minutes to give the examiners time to discuss my grades I knew I hadn't aced it but was relatively sure I had passed. I re-entered the room and my heart sank when I looked at their faces. After a lot of sighing, they told me I had passed but barely. Of course I was glad to have had passed but the things they said to me afterwards were neither nice nor helpful for the future. I know that I didn't do very good, but the stuff they said was really not true. But I passed and that's all that matters for now.

Knitting. Yes, there has been some of that, too. After ripping out countless attempts, I finally produced a nice pair of socks. No wait, the second sock is not finished yet, but it will be tonight! Better photos will follow once both socks are done.

The instructions are very clear and it is so much fun to knit! I love the slip-stitch heel! I chose a green yarn because I think the pattern looks like a vine that winds its way up the leg. I might knit another pair of socks in a blue yarn for a more waterfall-ish look. Here's the yarn I used:

We also used the holidays to visit lovely old towns with yarn shops that left me standing there with my mouth open, drooling all over the floor. Sebastian was very understanding and bought me those lovelies:

Monday, 5 April 2010

I wish you all a Happy Easter, or whatever you are celebrating this time of year. We had a rainy day yesterday, but today the sun is poking out and it feels like spring.I mostly decorate the house for every season, not for a special holiday or celebration except for Christmas, and I've never been much into the whole colourful egg business. But this year, I arranged some hazelnut brances in a brown jug and actually painted some eggs. When I was a child, we used to draw on eggs with felt-tip pens. I wasn't good at drawing back then and I'm even more awful at it today. So I blew some eggs and applied a ground coat of an acrylic paint (some eggs needed 2 or even 3 coats).

getting started

applying ground coat

When the paint was completely dry, I applied illustrations of animals and plants via paper napkin decoupage or simply polka-dotted the eggs:

I let the applied items dry properly before glossing over the whole egg with a silk-mat varnish, let it dry once more, attached a thread to the eggs (by tying thread to a match and poking it through the hole on the top) and hung them on the hazelnut branches:

Friday, 2 April 2010

I seem to be doing more ripping than knitting lately. Remember the red socks I've been knitting? I finished them, they were too tight, I ripped them. I knitted them again, they were too wide and the heel sucked, I ripped them. I am at the point where I really hate the yarn and can't stand to knit it again, for now...

On a happier note: I finished my second jumper. Before you look at the pictures, get ready to see a lot of pastiness =) I know, the colour doesn't look so good on me, maybe letting the sun kiss me will do the trick, who knows?The yarn is "ONline Linie 11 Alpha", colours 16, 40 and 66. It is 100 % cotton and very, very soft.The original pattern was published in the "Verena" knitting magazine, spring edition 2009.The seams are still not great, but getting better. I am not completely satisfied with the result in general, but I made some progress and am still learning a lot.

I took the jumper for a walk today and I have to say, the yarn really feels nice and is perfect for spring as it provides enough warmth due to its thickness. The colours look awful with the blue jeans, but if I want to put on my white jeans I will have to go with the unbuttoned look as they are tight as hell at the moment. And not in a good way!

And another FO that has been finished for quite a while now: Gudrun Johnston's "Crofter's Cowl". I've worn this piece a lot since it came off of the needles. The cowl starts rolling itself together after a while, which sadly hides the wonderful pattern, but it is nevertheless a beautiful and useful thing to wear. For information on the yarn etc.: Crofter's Cowl (ravelry link)

About

Hi! My name is Maike, welcome and thank you for stopping by. I am an enthusiastic knitter and fierce lover of animals and nature, who lives with her fiancé in a small village in Westphalia, Germany. On this blog I intend to share my crafts with you and now and then spoil you with pictures of my amazing furry friends. I hope you enjoy your visit here! I love and appreciate your comments and will reply to them via email or directly here on this blog, so please come back and check =)